I chose the topic of yoga because it has always been something I have been interested in. My freshman year I started doing yoga and I absolutely loved it. At first I started out doing Vinyasa or flow yoga. I found that it was a great way for me to stretch and increase my flexibility. When I did yoga in the mornings, I found that it really helped to wake me up and energize me for the day. Eventually, I started to hot yoga. I found this to be a bit more challenging due to the heated environment and quicker pace, but I really enjoyed the workout I got from it. In addition from the physical benefits that I received from yoga, it also helped me to destress and relax. Yoga is a very fun way to exercise while relaxing and clearing your mind at the same time, that is why I thought it would be the perfect for my Wellness Day.
While preparing for this presentation I discovered all the fun different types of yoga that there are. I had always known about aerial and even tried it a couple times myself. Another type of yoga that I discovered while doing research for this project was acro yoga. This is a combination of acrobatics and yoga. In order to do any of these poses a partner is needed, and a very strong one at that. Another funny type of yoga is called doga, or yoga with your dog. This has helped people to create harmony and form a greater connection with their dog.
Yoga is very important topic for health and wellness because it has so many benefits, both physical and mental. Some of it's physical benefits are increase inflexibility as well as balance. In addition, it also helps to strengthen your muscles and promotes blood flow through all the movement that is done in a yoga class. Some mental benefits include mindfulness through meditation and your breath-work. Another mental benefit is relaxation responses that are shown to help relieve stress and even reduce symptoms of depression.
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate our presentation a 9. I believe that we had a good balance between lecturing and educating the class on our topic while also demonstrating different yoga poses and walking the class through a basic yoga sequence. I also believe that we were able to keep the class engaged and interested throughout our presentation. I hope that the class was able to take away something from our presentation.
Another thing about this topic that interests me is pilates. There are many type of pilates such as traditional pilates, that include the use of a special apparatus, mat pilates, that includes the exercises being done on a yoga mat, and hot mat pilates, where the exercises are done in heated room of about 104-105 degrees. Pilates incorporates many aspects of yoga, such as poses like downward dog and the importance of flexibility. I have always liked pilates because while it has some aspects of yoga in it, I find that it provides me with a more intense workout than yoga gives. I do also find that I receive a lot of same mental benefits that I receive from yoga, such as relaxation and mindfulness.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
Unit 4 Reflection
In this unit, we learned all about the Integumentary system and it's basic functions. The main function of this system is to protect the body from mechanical, chemical, thermal, and bacterial damage. When I think of protection for our body, the first thing I think about is the skin. The skin is composed of three layers, the first being the epidermis. The epidermis is what everyone can see since it is the part of the skin that contains melanin, a pigment for color. However, underneath the epidermis the dermis. Made up of dense connective tissue, collagen, and elastic fibers, the dermis is what provides the skin with it's toughness. Finally, there is the hypodermis, which is the deepest layer. The hypodermis is not actually a part of the skin; however, it is an anchor of the skin to underlying organs. Although the skin might be the first physical barrier we think of for protection of our body there are many more. Others include ceruminous, which is essentially the wax found in your ears. Along with the tiny hairs found in your ears, this helps to trap foreign particles and prevents unwanted bacterial from entering the body. Another source of protection is your nails. Formed from keratin, your nails help to perform everyday tasks such as grasping and manipulation small objects but they also serves as a form of protection to keep unwanted bacteria and other foreign particles away. Similar to ceruminous, mucus membranes create linings on body cavities that are open to the exterior in order to help trap and filter invaders.
Another system of defense that our body has is chemical defense. One method of chemical defense includes sebum. Sebum is an oil that is secreted by the skin to form a protective layer. Similarly, we have sweat, or perspiration. Secreted by the sweat glands, this helps us to flush microbes from the skin's surface.
The next form of non-specific protection is through anti-microbial substances, like natural killer cells. These are white blood cells that have the ability to kill viruses infected body cells or even cancer. There are also anti-microbial processes such as inflammation. Inflammation is triggered by stress due to tissue damage. This can help to prevent the spread of pathogens and promote the repair of damaged tissue. There are three stages of inflammation, vasodilation and increased permeability of blood vessels, phagocytes migrate, and then repair. Another anti-microbial process we learned about are fevers, which inhibit microbial growth and help to stimulate the production of white blood cells.
There is also specific resistance, which is effective against a single pathogen. There is cell-mediated immunity where invaders are attacked directly by the cells and are T cell driven, and then there is antibody-mediated immunity, where invaders are destroyed by antibodies and are B cell driven. T cells help by directly attacking the infected cell and some can be memory T cells that store the memory of invading antigens for years.
The last thing we learned about was cancer. Cancer can have two types of tumors, malignant and benign. Benign tumors are noncancerous and cannot spread throughout the body, while malignant tumors are cancerous and can be very dangerous and can spread throughout the body. Metastasis is the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body and is the most advanced and worrisome stage of the progression of cancer. Some treatments of cancer include surgery, radiation, internal radiation, and chemotherapy. In order to prevent cancer, one should avoid tobacco, limit their sun exposure and most importantly know their family history.
In this unit, I learned a lot about what happens when we get sick or when our defense system needs to go into action. I was very surprised to see how many of the everyday processes we go through help us to keep pathogens out of our body. Something as simple as sweat can help us from getting sick or an infection.
From the debates, I learned a lot about some very interesting topics. From the Nature Deficit Debate, I learned the importance of going outside and some of the amazing benefits it has, such as helping veterans with PTSD. From my debate on the organ market, I learned about the pros and cons of being able to sell your organs and how it may help but also hurt us. I found the debates very interesting and I thought it was a good way to be engaged and learn something new.
I have always considered myself to be a visual learner, and after taking the VARK questionnaire, I learned I was correct. These results were exactly what I would have expected. To play into my learning style in preparation for the test, I will study by drawing out diagrams and other visuals so I can see the material in a visually appealing way. My results from the questionnaire are below.
Visual 12
Aural 1
Read/Write 5
Kinesthetic 9
Another system of defense that our body has is chemical defense. One method of chemical defense includes sebum. Sebum is an oil that is secreted by the skin to form a protective layer. Similarly, we have sweat, or perspiration. Secreted by the sweat glands, this helps us to flush microbes from the skin's surface.
The next form of non-specific protection is through anti-microbial substances, like natural killer cells. These are white blood cells that have the ability to kill viruses infected body cells or even cancer. There are also anti-microbial processes such as inflammation. Inflammation is triggered by stress due to tissue damage. This can help to prevent the spread of pathogens and promote the repair of damaged tissue. There are three stages of inflammation, vasodilation and increased permeability of blood vessels, phagocytes migrate, and then repair. Another anti-microbial process we learned about are fevers, which inhibit microbial growth and help to stimulate the production of white blood cells.
There is also specific resistance, which is effective against a single pathogen. There is cell-mediated immunity where invaders are attacked directly by the cells and are T cell driven, and then there is antibody-mediated immunity, where invaders are destroyed by antibodies and are B cell driven. T cells help by directly attacking the infected cell and some can be memory T cells that store the memory of invading antigens for years.
The last thing we learned about was cancer. Cancer can have two types of tumors, malignant and benign. Benign tumors are noncancerous and cannot spread throughout the body, while malignant tumors are cancerous and can be very dangerous and can spread throughout the body. Metastasis is the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body and is the most advanced and worrisome stage of the progression of cancer. Some treatments of cancer include surgery, radiation, internal radiation, and chemotherapy. In order to prevent cancer, one should avoid tobacco, limit their sun exposure and most importantly know their family history.
In this unit, I learned a lot about what happens when we get sick or when our defense system needs to go into action. I was very surprised to see how many of the everyday processes we go through help us to keep pathogens out of our body. Something as simple as sweat can help us from getting sick or an infection.
From the debates, I learned a lot about some very interesting topics. From the Nature Deficit Debate, I learned the importance of going outside and some of the amazing benefits it has, such as helping veterans with PTSD. From my debate on the organ market, I learned about the pros and cons of being able to sell your organs and how it may help but also hurt us. I found the debates very interesting and I thought it was a good way to be engaged and learn something new.
I have always considered myself to be a visual learner, and after taking the VARK questionnaire, I learned I was correct. These results were exactly what I would have expected. To play into my learning style in preparation for the test, I will study by drawing out diagrams and other visuals so I can see the material in a visually appealing way. My results from the questionnaire are below.
Visual 12
Aural 1
Read/Write 5
Kinesthetic 9
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